"She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And on her tongue is the law of kindness.
She watches over the ways of her household,
And does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her."
Proverbs 31:26-28

Quiet time on the blog usually means things are busy on the home front. . .

On Wednesday, May 18th, God blessed us to deliver another baby girl. She was born at 1:30 pm, weighing 8 lbs and 11.5 oz, and 21 inches long.

Baby Q

Labor pains woke me up around 7 am and after 30 minutes of contractions, I knew the time had come. After a brief whirlwind of confusion with my doctor's office, my husband and I arrived at the hospital sometime between 10:15 and 10:30 am. At this point, I was 8cm dilated and 80% effaced.

I have been blessed to deliver all 7 of our children without surgical intervention, but this one was different: no epidural or pitocin or any other medications.

This was a desire of my heart, and God heard my prayers. He allowed me to experience birth naturally and I am so grateful for that. This was important to me because I want to be able to share the experience with my daughters (and daughters-in-law).

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

So much of womanhood and mothering has been lost from times past, leaving a gap between generations. Women become wives and mothers not knowing how to do many basic tasks of keeping a home and child-rearing, not to mention breastfeeding or natural childbearing.

I am one of those women, who has struggled to learn homemaking, mothering, biblical womanhood along the way. I want something different for my daughters. And birthing a baby naturally, even in a hospital, is part of bridging that gap for me. It was a long time coming--I mean 6 other deliveries before I was willing to try, but I am so grateful for the entire process, 13 years in the making.

I know I've said this before, but I am amazed at how He takes time to see about us, even in the small places, all the way down to the details. This song played over and over in my mind during my laboring, which just reiterates Romans 8:28--

"And we know that all things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

Whatever we face as believers, including laboring to bring a child into the world, God's intentions are clear: to bring about some good in the end. "He's intentional, never failing."

My littlest girls have birthdays just one day apart 🎂

Birthday party in the hospital 😊

"Baby Q" was born one day before her big sister's birthday. We were able to go home the next evening after she was born. So far baby is doing well, recovery is good, and nursing is going strong. I'm sleepy, and I can't quite keep my days straight yet, but overall, I feel incredibly blessed.

A big, heartfelt "Thank you!" to everyone who prayed for us. 💜

"They shall not labor in vain,

Nor bring forth children for trouble;

For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord,And their offspring with them."

The Bible is an important part of my family's life as it is the foundation of our faith in God. So, naturally, it is important in our homeschooling as well. While we do have a more in-depth, sincere Bible study time each day, I also wanted to incorporate a little fun in our Bible learning as well. I think taking the Bible seriously is an important thing to teach my kids. However, that doesn't mean we can't sprinkle a little fun in there to cultivate a love of learning God's word. Here are a few things we do.

"A merry heart does good, like medicine,

But a broken spirit dries the bones." -Psalm 17:22

Scripture Drawings
Sounds easy enough right? Well, this is a bit of a challenge because it uses some creativity. Exactly how do you show that we should have no other gods before Him? Or that we should not take the Name of the Lord in vain? (Exodus 20:3, 7) It has been fun seeing some of the things my kids have come up with. Some of their drawings have been very literal and others have been very abstract, but both lots of fun.

Bible Books
There isn't anything fancy or brand new here. Kids have been learning the books of the Bible for ages! Still, there is just something cool about knowing and reciting all 66 books and where to find those books without using the table of contents. It brings back childhood memories for both my husband and me, and so it's another family fun idea. We've taken the Bible books in chunks, about five or so at a time, and just add to them as we learn them. We're not in a race and there isn't some special prize at the end. What gets my kids going is that they get to quiz me! They keep me on my toes!

Bible Flip
Now this one is a race. I'll call out a verse from one of the Bible books that we're learning, and my kids have to try to get there as fast as they can. The first one to get to the passage has to recite it out loud. We do this just a few times per week and boy do they get a kick out of it. My little ones who do not read yet, pretend to find the verse before the older kids do. We've had ties and we've had blow-outs, and we've had people reading the wrong Scripture. (Bonus: sharpening listening skills!) We keep it light-hearted and we laugh about it. You know your kids enjoy this activity when they ask, "Mommy are going to do Bible flip today?" And if I respond with a, "No, not today," I get an, "Aww!" in return.

Bible Movies/Series
There's nothing like seeing the best compilation of history ever being played out before your eyes. My children absolutely love to watch Bible movies, whether cartoons or real actors. As their understanding of God's word matures, what we've been doing is critiquing the show based on Biblical accuracy vs. embellishment for the movie's sake. The last ones we watched were The Prince of Egyptand The Passion of the Christ. It was interesting to hear their take on things and a few times we even paused the movies to consult the Scriptures if we weren't sure.

These are a few ways we enjoy learning about the Bible. How does your family make Bible learning fun?

No Idle Bread by Stacie

Wife, Mother, Homemaker

"This job has been given to me to do. Therefore, it is a gift. Therefore, it is a privilege. Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him. Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness.”